The present disclosure relates to ground mount-type solar energy collectors. More particularly, it relates to compact, ground mount photovoltaic assemblies facilitating low cost shipment to, and installation at, a large scale solar energy collection site.
Solar power has long been viewed as an important alternative energy source. To this end, substantial efforts and investments have been made to develop and improve upon solar energy collection technology. Of particular interest are large scale installations in which numerous solar energy collectors are arranged over a sizeable area (on the order of at least one square mile) and collect significant amounts of solar energy (on the order of megawatts or even gigawatts).
Solar photovoltaic technology is generally viewed as an optimal approach for large scale solar energy collection, and can be used as a primary and/or secondary energy source. In general terms, solar photovoltaic systems (or simply “photovoltaic systems”) employ photovoltaic (PV) cells made of silicon or other materials (e.g., CdTe, CIGS, etc.) to convert sunlight into electricity. The cells are packaged in a PV laminate that is generally formed as an array of crystalline or amorphous semiconductor devices electrically interconnected and encapsulated. One or more electrical conductors are carried by the PV laminate through which the solar-generated current is conducted. A single PV laminate can then be assembled to a supportive frame to form a PV module, or can be supported directly (alone or with one or more additional PV laminates) without the use of a frame. As used throughout this specification, the term “PV assembly” (or “photovoltaic assembly”) generically encompasses one or more PV laminates, or one or more PV modules, assembled to a common support structure. With this in mind, photovoltaic installations typically include a plurality of PV assemblies arranged in rows, with the PV laminates or modules of adjacent assemblies interconnected with wiring to one or more appropriate electrical components (e.g., switches, inverters, junction boxes, etc.).
Regardless of an exact construction of the PV assembly, most large scale PV installations entail mounting an array of PV assemblies to the earth or ground at a location where sunlight is readily present. In an open environment, the PV assemblies are oftentimes subjected to significant wind forces. These forces are especially problematic in with large scale solar energy collection applications in which the PV assemblies are preferably created to be as large as possible to maximize PV density. The correspondingly large support structure necessary to support these massive PV laminates or modules (or series of PV laminates or modules) is thus more susceptible to failure in the presence of wind forces (or other harsh environmental conditions). To better ensure long-term integrity, then, ground mount-type PV assemblies will include robust, complex stiffening components and/or wind deflectors that serve to off-set expected wind gusts. Moreover, for installations in which the PV laminates or modules are tilted relative to the sky (i.e., off-set from a horizontal orientation) and/or are rotated during the daylight hours by a separate tracking system, the need for augmented stiffening or reinforcement of the PV laminate/support structure interface is heightened.
In light of the above, while viable PV assembly designs are available for large scale applications, certain drawbacks remain. For example, conventional ground mount PV assembly configurations are commonly delivered to the installation site in an unassembled state, and the installer is required to invest significant worker hours in assembling the PV laminate(s) or module(s) to the separate support structure and stiffening members. Conversely, while some PV assembly designs are delivered in a pre-assembled state, the shipping footprint associated with the product is relatively high and/or irregular, and thus overtly impedes dense packaging of multiple ones of the PV assemblies in a shipping container. Instead, for a large scale installation, an excessively large number of transport vehicles are necessary to deliver the correspondingly large number of PV assembly shipping containers, increasing shipping and handling costs. A corresponding concern relates to the environmental and aesthetic impact of having a massive number of trucks travelling to and from the installation site. Clearly, installers greatly desire to minimize costs and environmental impact as much as possible.
In light of the above, a need exists for an improved PV assembly for large scale solar energy collection installations with requisite structural integrity that can be shipped pre-assembled in a reduced shipping footprint or envelope.